Relief valve



Aug. 4,1942.

FIG. I. 1

w rm

' FIGJZQ out hereinafter.

' ventionin closed position; and,

Patented Aug. 4, 1942 RELIEF VALVE Lutwin o. 'Rotter, Mapiewood, and Victor Klein, St. Louis, Mo., assignors to Lincoln Engineering Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application October 1, 1940; Serial No. 350,018 I I 2Claims. (01. 137-53) This invention relates to relief valves, and

with regard to certain more specific features, to relief valves for bleeding lubricating apparatus and the like.

The construction herein described is an. im-

provement upon that disclosed in the Lutwin C. Rotter United States Patent 2,162,898, dated June Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision of a bleeder relief valve of the type described in said patent,

in which is avoided variation in valve-seating area'and operating pressure ratiosy'the'provision of a valve of the class described which maintains a high degree of accuracy throughout its life; and the provision of a valve of this class which effects a definite cut-ofi effect uponclosing,

regardless of ordinary amounts of foreign material that may cross the valve seat. Other ob- Jects will be in part obvious and in part pointed The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations oi elements, features of construction, "and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified'in the structure hereinafter described, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated one of various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a vertical section illustrating the in- 1 to Fig. 1 butshowlarges. Also the'valve and its seat are ordinarily reground to a sealing fit after wear has taken place, and the resultis that the area under the valve when closed and exposed to pressure is variable throughout the life of the (18-.- vice. Since the pressure which opens the valve is substantially high (of the order .of several thousand pounds per square inch), any small variation in valve-seating area'means a relatively large variation in the valve-opening pressure. Also, since the closing of the valve is eflected by a spring on a piston of constant diameter, the result will be a high variation in the ratio of the variable opening pressure to the these disadvantages.

Referring now more particularly tothe draw;

ing, numeral I is a body portion forminga cylinback stop or shoulder'i'.

Reciprocating in the cylinder 9 is a piston I consisting of ahollow head 9 which'has a definite clearance with respect to the wall of the cylinder 3 to provide leakage around "the head. This head has a stem II which is threaded into'a guide'rod I3 and at the threaded portion 'holds'in place a rear plate I 5. A front plate I! rests on the'head 9; and between the plates I5 and I1 is a resilient packing I9, formed for der. 3 at the upper end of which cylinder is a example of artificial rubber'whichvwill withstand lubricant without deterioration. The packing is fitted with some initial tension around thes'tem II and against the wall .of the cylinder '3, but with substantial clearanceunderneath as shown at 2|. The clearance 2| communicates with the clearance between the head 'f9 and the wall-3. Thus lubricant under' the head 9 may exert limited pressure beneath the packing I9 to some extent, the limitation being due to the throttling action through the clearance between the head 9 and wall 3. Hence there is effected some radial sealing between the packing I9 and cylinder 9, in proportion,toapplied axial pressure. The stem l3-is guided at its upper end in an opening 25 of an adjustable cap 21. The cap is adjustably threaded onto the body I and held in any desired adjusted, position by a lock nut 29. A spring 3] reacting from the upper 'end of the cup 21 and against the'piston I, servesno'rmany to bias the piston downward. 1 Y

vDownward motion of the piston Ijis limited by a lowerenclosing' head 33' which is threaded into the body I and which is'provided with an inlet 95. Above the inlet is a shoulder within which and in the inlet 35 is' a hardened bushing 39 also having a shoulder I which is sealed against the shoulder 3"!v and held in place by. a hollow inlet nipple. The nipple 49 is threaded to -receive a pressure line.

The bushing 99 is provided with an' axial cylindrical passage 45 which is accurately reamed during manufacture to receive -'accurately the to within a fraction of a thousandth of an inch. fairl constant hold-open pressure. Acone valve The bushing 39 is provided with lateral open-- ings 49 which are traversed by the lower end 51 of the plunger 41.

The upper end 5| of the plunger abuts the upper end of a hollow socket portion 52 within the head 9. The upper end 5l of the valve 41 is made substantially smaller than the socet 52 in which' it is positioned, so that any small axial misalignment may. be taken care of between the valve 41 and the head 9.

The body I is provided with a relief outlet 55 which is traversed to some extent by the lower edge 55 of the head 9, as indicated by the relative positions in Figs. land 2 Operation is as follows:

Starting with the parts down as shown in Fig. 1, let it be assumed that pressure builds up in the line connected with the inlet nipple 43. This is applied to the accurately machined area 51 at the lower end of the plunger 41, which raises theplunger. The plunger pushes up thepiston' 1 against the reaction of the spring 3|. Then the valve end 51 crosses the ports 49, whereupon fluid under pressure escapesinto theportion in cylinder 3 which is beneath the skirt 23 of head 5.

Since the effective area of the piston 1 is larger than the exposed-area 51 of the plunger 41, a

' that all flattening action of any cone valve on much lower pressure serves to hold the parts up (as shown in Fig. 2) than is required to initiate opening from the position shown in Fig. 1. Since the ratios of the area between 51 and 1 are large, as can be seen from the drawing, a slight error or change in the area 51 results in a relatively large error in the opening pressure and pressure ratio between opening conditions and conditions after opening.

It -is desirable to avoid the above-specified errors, and the present invention does so, because the area 51 remains substantially the same throughout the life of the devices; It does not change its size, as does a conical valveseat. Furthermore, since the lower end of the plunger 41 crosses the port 48 and cuts off fiow by means of a shearing action, rather than by a compressive action, as is the case with a cone valve, any foreign material is less likely to block the valve and hold it open. This is because the foreign material, is either sheared or pushed aside more readily than is the case with a conical valve, As the piston 1 rises, the lower edge 55 of skirt 2! thereon traverses part of the relief port 51 so as freely to relieve pressure at first. This relieves pressure in the lines connected with the nipple 43 and as thepressure goes down the piston 1 descends under action of the spring 3|. However. the pressure may descend below that of the pressure required for opening the valve 41 before reclosure occurs, because of the excess area under the piston 1 as compared with the area 51. Fi-

nally when the port 53 is again crossed by 51, the

valve 41 is still open, and from this point on descent of the piston 1 occurs more slowly under throttling action, which occurs because of slow leakage through the clearance between the skirt 25 and wall 3 and to said outlet 53. After some leakage, the valve 41 isclosed. I

Since the reclosing action of the valve 41 is intendedly slow, it is the more important that the end 51 in crossing the port 49 have a sure effect its seat is avoided. Such flattening action tends to change the area which is responsive to pressure, and hence also the pressure even in cases where a'valve 'does not require regrinding.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

Asmany changes could be made in the above constructionswithout departing, from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.v

We claim: a 1.A relatively high-pressure relief valve adapted to remain'open under relatively low pressure, comprising a main cylinder having a pressureinlet and a main pressure outlet, a reciprocatin'gpiston loosely fitted in the; cylinder, means normally biasing the piston toward the inlet, valve cylinder means associated with-the inlet comprising a cylindric bushing portion. at leastone outlet opening laterally from said valve cylinder means, a cylindric valve accurately fitted in said valve cylinderlmeansand having an end exposed to inlet pressure, and traversing said outlet in the valvecylinder means, and means on said valve loosely associated with the'piston to accommodate the lateral movement of said piston due toitsloose fit in'the cylinder, the area bottom of the piston having a loose'fit with respect tosaid main cylinder for traversing the outlet of the main cylinder.

2. A relief valve comprising a main hollow body portion providing a cylinder havingan axial inlet and-a lateral outlet, a piston loosely fitted in the cylinder and havinga sealing portion permitting said looseness, a head on the piston having "a substantial clearance with re-- spect to ,the cylinder and traversing the outlet, a spring biasing the piston so'that the head normally covers the outlet, a cylindric piston valve body in'the inlet of the main body having an accurate cylindric boretherethrou'gh, a piston valve accurately fitted. in thebore, said bore having an outlet traversed by the lower end of the piston valve, said valve having an extension loosely associated with the piston, said head being adapted loosely to coversaid lateral outlet in the main body prior to the closure of said valve over the outlet in the piston valve body,

Lu'rwm c. VICTOR 0. mm. 

